A new Hamilton County property tax may be on the way after Mayor Jim Coppinger presented a new proposed budget for the upcoming year Tuesday morning. His proposed budget included a brand new 34 cent tax that would go towards funding education. The Tennessee county property tax would help towards increasing the county budget from $753,000,000 to $819,000,000.
The last time Hamilton County Commission raised the property tax levy, it was back in 2005 during a heated 5-4 vote. As the Times Free Press documents, “The 2005 tax increase was the only time the commission held two votes to designate tax dollars between county general government and the school system in the nine tax increases since 1980, according to records from Hamilton County Clerk Bill Knowles.”
Before the meeting on Tuesday, there had been rumors of a 49 cent tax hike with 34 cents going to Hamilton County schools, and 15 cents going towards the general county government.
Ultimately, this budget will be voted on by the commissioners, but they won’t be able to vote on the 2020 budget for at least 21 days. The vote is scheduled for June 26.
